Recommendation of Scary Music: That Song That’s Actually Frightening
One facet of music as an art form is that it can evoke fear—just hearing it can send chills down your spine.
In this article, we’re spotlighting a range of pieces under the theme of scary music.
From classic horror movie theme songs to classical music at the core, plus rock and popular music, we’ve curated a wide selection! Some tracks might not seem particularly scary when you’re just listening, but once you learn the backstory, they suddenly become terrifying… You might make discoveries like that.
Be sure to check it out!
Recommendation of Terrifying Music: Actually Scary Songs (1–10)
VermilionSlipknot
Slipknot’s “Vermilion” is a strange alternative metal tune that overwhelms you from the very first moment with churning, anxiety-stoking guitars, murmured vocals, and a rhythm that eerily ramps up the tension.
Its thick, metallic wall of sound and hardcore-tinged production intertwine with horror and psychotic elements, creating a worldview that perfectly balances bad taste and artistry—leaving metalheads around the world with a fresh new trauma.
They’re a monster band that embodies a still-ongoing, sickened America.
SuspiriaGoblin
It’s truly an anthem-like theme of Italian horror cinema—a masterpiece among masterpieces that sends chills down your spine every time you hear it.
Dario Argento’s 1977 classic Suspiria sparked a boom in Japan as well, and the famous tagline at the time—“Do not watch it alone”—became a hot topic.
The creators of this iconic track are Goblin, the progressive rock band and frequent collaborators on Argento’s films.
The mournful, music-box-like intro and the deliberately off-kilter percussion stir up an indescribable sense of unease.
And yet, the main theme’s melody is beautiful, leaving no doubt that even as a standalone piece of music, it is overwhelmingly superb.
TotentanzFranz Liszt
The mysterious yet ominous atmosphere conjured by the profoundly weighty piano is truly unique to this piece.
Composed by Franz Liszt—dubbed the “magician of the piano” for his transcendental virtuosity—it is also known in Japan by the title “Dance of Death.” Here’s where it gets a bit complicated: although it shares the Japanese title “Dance of Death” with Saint-Saëns’s famous symphonic poem, it is an entirely different work.
Moreover, Liszt himself, inspired by Saint-Saëns’s Danse macabre, created a solo piano arrangement of the Saint-Saëns piece, separate from his own original work of the same Japanese title.
The piece introduced here is Liszt’s composition titled Totentanz in the original German, presented in his own solo piano arrangement.
It incorporates phrases from the Gregorian chant Dies irae, and the contrast between its tranquil and tempestuous sections is strikingly beautiful and dramatic.
Why not listen to it while contemplating the 14th-century fresco The Triumph of Death, said to have inspired its motif?
The Silence of the Lambs Opening TitleHaward Shore
With its heavy yet flowing orchestral score, this piece is intensely dramatic and beautiful, yet it carries an unmistakable sense of unease—no doubt because it serves as the main theme for the masterpiece film The Silence of the Lambs.
Composed by the great film composer Howard Shore, this track alone is enough to conjure the opening scene in the minds of those who’ve seen the movie, sending a chill down their spines.
It’s a work that could only come from a film whose protagonist, Hannibal Lecter, is portrayed as a classical music aficionado, and the soundtrack is so acclaimed that it’s said to have significantly contributed to the movie’s massive success.
Even if you haven’t seen the film, you can still enjoy it.
That said, watching the movie at least once is guaranteed to double the terror!
Gloomy SundayNoriko Awaya
This is a chanson born in Hungary, known worldwide as a frightening song.
In Japan, it’s known through performances by artists such as Noriko Awaya, who was called the “Queen of Blues.” That bleak melody inevitably sends chills down your spine, doesn’t it? This Japanese version was recorded once around 1936, but there’s an anecdote that its release was banned because the overly pessimistic atmosphere was deemed problematic.
With a noble yet weighty vocal tone that highlights quiet madness and sorrow, this chilling piece seems perfect for a ghostly Halloween gathering.
ErlkönigFranz Schubert
Just listening to the weighty, serious timbre of the piano lets you experience an inexpressible sense of anxiety and impatience, doesn’t it? One of the most internationally renowned Lieder, Erlkönig, is best known in the version where Schubert set Goethe’s poem to music.
Based on a Danish folk ballad, Goethe freely reworked it and published the poem in 1782; Schubert then composed it as a song in 1815 when he was 18.
However, the true value of the piece was not readily understood, and its path to publication was fraught with twists and turns.
Today, it is well known in Japan as an educational piece in music and is frequently parodied and quoted in various contexts.
In addition to the overwhelming piano part that seems to push the terror of its tragic story to the utmost limit, the technical difficulty—where a single singer typically assumes four roles (the child, the father, the Erlking, and the narrator)—combines to leave listeners with an unforgettable impact after just one hearing.
Friday the 13thHarry Manfredini
Even if you’ve never seen the actual film, most people associate Friday the 13th with something ominous.
The theme from the classic 1980 horror film Friday the 13th—best known for its hockey mask–wearing Jason—is one of the most famous tracks among horror movie soundtracks, and it’s a masterpiece that can chill you to the bone even when heard on its own.
It’s also famous for the fragmented, whisper-like sounds, which are based on the line “Kill her, Mommy” from the film.
Those who have seen the movie will know exactly what that means.
Conversely, if you haven’t seen it, you won’t understand the significance—but if you’re interested, do watch the first film and discover the tragic truth for yourself.